Conformed seam structure and containers employing same



March 24 1970 RM. ERLANDSON ET AL- 3,502,243

CONFORMED SEAM STRUCTURE AND CONTAINERS EMPLOYING SAME Filed Jan. 12,1968 23 INVENTORS PAUL MERLANDSON I16 6 3 DONALD JJZOTH TTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent 3,502,243 CONFORMED SEAM STRUCTURE AND CONTAINERSEMPLOYING SAME Paul M. Erlandson, Palos Park, and Donald J. Roth,

Chicago Heights, 11]., assignors to Continental Can I Company, Inc., NewYork, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 12, 1968, Ser. No.697,398 Int. Cl. B65d 7/38 U.S. Cl. 220-75 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE This invention relates in general to new and usefulimprovements in containers, and more particularly to a novel seamconstruction for a container body.

When the side seam of a container body is of the straight lap type,there are two raw edges, one internally and one externally. In manyinstances both of these raw edges are undesirable. In practically everyinstance, at least one of the raw edges is undesirable. Accordingly, itis the primary object of this invention to provide a can body whereininitially the lap seam thereof is conventional and such seam isconformed or reshaped so as to provide for one smooth continuoussurface.

It will be readily appreciated that when the exterior surface of acontainer body side seam is smooth and continuous, the appearance of thecontainer body is greatly improved and decoration thereof through 360degrees is possible. The elimination of the projecting external raw edgealso reduces shipping damage.

Another feature of the conformed container body seam is that when theside seam is conformed utilizing a high energy rate technique, and whenthe side seam is of the adhesively bonded type, the conforming of theseam results in a tighter seam thereby alleviating the possibility offoreign objects becoming embedded between the lapped edges and causingleaks.

When the side seam of a container body is conformed so as to have theinterior surface thereof continuous, only a very small recess willinitially exist and protective material may be placed therein in theform of a side stripe so that the normally exposed cut edge will not beexposed to the contents of the container. Also, such a container may beutilized as a piston type aerosol container in that the leakage betweenthe container wall and a piston will be held to a minimum. Furthermore,the container is readily adaptable for use with a liner in that theliner will not be subject to cutting on the normally exposed raw edge.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear,the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by referenceto the following detailed description, the appended claims and theseveral views illustrated in the accompanying drawing:

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a conformed can formed in accordancewith this invention with a continuous external surface.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of another conformed can with portionsthereof broken away and shown in sec- 3,502,243 Patented Mar. 24, 1970tion and wherein the internal surface of the can body is continuous.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view takenalong the line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view takenalong the line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view similar to FIGURE 3and shows a form of the side seam Lvherein the bond between the lapportions is an adhesive ond.

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic fragmentary horizontal sectional view showingthe initial condition of the lapped seam and generally how the seam isconformed to form the seam of FIGURE 3.

Reference is first made to FIGURE 1 wherein there is illustrated a canformed in accordance with this invention, the can being generallyreferred to by the numeral 10. The can 10 includes a conformed body 11which has the opposite ends thereof closed in a conventional manner bymeans of ends 12 and 13. The body 11 is provided with a side seam 14which is exaggerated for illustration purposes.

Referring now to FIGURE 3 in particular, it will be seen that the sideseam 14 is conformed in accordance with this invention whereby theexternal surface of the body 11 is continuous. The side seam 14 includestwo laps 15 and 16 which are bonded together in any desirable manner. Inthe illustrated side seam, the bond between the laps 15 and 16 is in theform of a weld 17. The lap 16 which is disposed outermost, is disposedcontinuous with the main portion of the body 11 and is substantially inabutting engagement with an offset shoulder 18 which is disposed at theintersection of the lap 15 with the adjacent portion of the body 11. Itis to be noted that the lap 15 is totally offset radially inwardly fromthe remainder of the body 11.

The conformed side seam 14 has a narrow gap 20 between the shoulder 18and the free end of the lap 16. This gap 20 is filled with a suitablematerial, such as a lacquer 21, in a conventional side stripingoperation.

The specific can body 11 has several material advantages. In the firstplace, there is absent the usual external raw edge on which one maypossibly cut oneself. Secondly, appearance of the can body 11 isenhanced by the continuous exterior surface thereof. This, in addition,permits the application of a continuous decoration if this is sodesired. Such a continuous decoration is illustrated in FIGURE 1 and isidentified by the numeral 22.

A further and highly desirable advantage of the smooth continuousexternal surface of the can body 11 is that it is impossible for theside seam of one can to damage an adjacent can during shipment. Whilesuch a side seam construction has an advantage when the ends are of thetype illustrated in FIGURE 1, it will be readily apparent that there isstill a further advantage if the ends are of the smaller diameter typeand the conventional double seams between the ends and the can body liewithin the external outline of the can body. This provides for anextremely desirable can construction.

Referring now to FIGURE 5 in particular, it will be seen that there isillustrated a modified can which is similar to the can 10, but has adifferent body construction. This modified can is identified by thenumeral and includes a can body which is identified by the numeral 111.The opposite ends of the can body 111 are closed in a conventionalmanner by ends including the illustrated end 112. The can body 111 has aside seam 114 which is conformed in the same manner as the side seam 14and includes laps 115 and 116. However the laps 115 and 116 are bondedtogether by means of an adhesive bond 117 as opposed to the weldedbondshown in FIG- U-RE 3.

Reference is next made to FIGURE 6 wherein there is schematicallyillustrated the manner in which the can body 11 is conformed so as tohave a conformed side seam. It is to be noted that the ends of the canbody 11 are initially merely brought into overlapping relation so thatthe laps 15 and 16 are in lapped engagement, and thereafter, the Weldedbond 17 is formed. At this time the free ends of the laps 15 and 16 areboth exposed. The conventionally formed can body is then placed within asuitable mold or die 22 which is preferably cylindrical in outline butnot necessarily so. The internal diameter of the mold 22 will beslightly greater than that of the nominal diameter of the can body 11when initially formed. A high energy rate force will then be applied tothe internal surface of the can body 11, as is generally indicated bythe arrows 23. This high energy rate force, which may be of any desiredconventional type, will then instantaneously conform the side seam andother portions of the can body 11 to conform to the internalconfiguration of the die 22 with the side seam being conformed to havethe appearance shown in FIGURE 3.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 2 wherein there is illustrated anaerosol type can formed in accordance with this invention, the aerosoltype can being generally referred to by the numeral 30. The can 30includes a conformed can body 31 which has the lower end thereof closedby a conventional end 32 and the upper end thereof closed by means of aspecial aerosol type end 33. The conformed can body 11 has a conformedside seam which is generally identified by the numeral 34 and which forillustrative purposes has been exaggerated in FIGURE 2.

Referring now to FIGURE 4 in particular, it will be seen that the sideseam 34 is formed by an internal lap 35 and an external lap 36 whichhave been bonded together by means of a welded bond 37. Although theillustrated bond is a welded bond, it may be an adhesive bond of thetype illustrated in FIGURE The side seam 34 difi'ers from the side seam14 of FIGURE 3 in that the side seam 34 has been conformed so that theinternal surface of the can body 31 is continuous. The primary portionof the can body 11 is offset at its connection with the lap 36 so as todefine a shoulder 38 which opposes the free end of the lap 35. There isa small gap 40 between the free end of the lap 35 and the shoulder 38,which gap is conveniently filled with a lacquer 41 or other similarmaterial in a simple side stripping operation.

It is first pointed out that although the lap 36 does project externallyof the remainder of the can body 31, the can body 31 has no externalfeatures which are any more undesirable than existing can bodies. On theother hand, by forming the internal surface of the can body 31 so as tobe continuous, it will be seen that the can 30 may be provided with aconventional piston 42 which will uniformly engage about the peripheryof the internal surface of the can body 11 and form a complete sealtherewith. This, of course, is a highly desirable feature of an aerosoltype can.

Although the aerosol type can 30 has been illustrated as having a pistonwhich cooperates with the internal surface of the can body 31 in theusual piston and cylinder relationship, the use of the can body 31 in anaerosol type can is not so limited. There is a certain class of aerosoltype cans wherein a liner or bag is provided. By having the internalsurface of the can body 31 continuous, there is no possibility of theaccidental rupture of the 4 bag or liner when engaging the side seam ofthe can body 31.

It is further pointed out here that there are many instances :when thecontent of a can body will chemically attack the raw metal. Byconforming the side seam 34 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 4, itwill be seen that the exposed metal which has not been previouslyprotected by coating or plating, that is along the usual cut raw edge ofthe metal, is readily protected by the lacquer 41. It will also beapparent that the lacquer 41, being disposed within the narrow gap 40,will have a tendency to remain in place and will not come loose as thecase where such a lacquer is attempted to be applied to a fully exposedraw edge.

Although only certain advantages of the specific conformed side seams ofthis disclosure have been set forth, it is to be understood that manyother advantages will become apparent as the conformed can bodies areutilized.

Although only two preferred embodiments of the invention have beenspecifically illustrated and described herein, it is to be understoodthat minor variations may be made in the conformed can body of thisdisclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A container body having a conformed lapped side seam, said side seamincluding an offset lap portion and a continued lap portion, said offsetlap portion being disposed entirely out of the continuing surface of theadjacent portion of said body with which it is integrally formed and thecircumferential extent of said seam is no more than equal to the widthof said lap portion plus the thickness of the material of said body.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said continued lap portion has anedge in abutting engagement with the portion of said body to which saidoffset lap portion is integrally connected.

3. The container body of claim 1 wherein said side seam is and has thevisual appearance of being shaped after lapped edge portions of saidcontainer body have been bonded together.

4. The container body of claim 1 wherein the exterior surface of saidbody is continuous and smooth.

5. The container body of claim 1 wherein the interior surface of saidbody is continuous and smooth.

6. The container body of claim 1 wherein said body is part of an aerosoltype container and said body having a continuous and smooth cylindricalinterior surface.

7. The container body of claim 1 wherein said side seam is of acontinuous welded construction.

8. The container body of claim 1 wherein said side seam is a continuousadhesively bonded seam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,120,007 6/1938 Tear 220 X2,319,487 5/1943 Baldwin 2208l X 2,255,802 9/1941 Murch 220-75 2,679,3055/ 1954 Gunthorp. 2,919,255 12/1959 'Hart. 2,967,161 1/1961 Hart 22081 XGEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner JAMES R. GARRETT, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R. 220-81

